The more you sew, the more possibilities you imagine for the tiniest scrap. That makes it SO difficult to throw those itty bitty pieces away. And I love scrap quilts. It's my go-to project just about all the time. I get bored with repeating the same block over and over. But this weekend the scraps need to be tamed.
I'm in the process of replacing my sewing room carpet with bamboo flooring, so it's time to get my scraps in order. All the bookshelves will have to be moved out of the room, and I have loads of books, magazines, and bags of scraps filling them. I've been in a quandary about which sorting method to use after referring to lectures I attended by nationally known scrap quilters, and online Pinterest and google searches.
My current method has been to put like colors in large ziplock bags. The bags are overflowing, and to find a piece I want I end up dumping the contents and searching through the pile. But I do like the visibility see though storage allows.
I'm in the process of replacing my sewing room carpet with bamboo flooring, so it's time to get my scraps in order. All the bookshelves will have to be moved out of the room, and I have loads of books, magazines, and bags of scraps filling them. I've been in a quandary about which sorting method to use after referring to lectures I attended by nationally known scrap quilters, and online Pinterest and google searches.
My current method has been to put like colors in large ziplock bags. The bags are overflowing, and to find a piece I want I end up dumping the contents and searching through the pile. But I do like the visibility see though storage allows.
I decided on boxes that would stack neatly on my bookshelf. After a few trips to Jo-Ann Fabric and Michaels, I brought home an assortment of cardboard photo storage boxes, with a fabric family in mind for each one: pink, red (a shoe box), yellow/orange (I don't have a lot of orange), green, light blue, dark blue, purple, black/white, tan/browns. I must say I was disappointed with the limited box choices from both stores. But, they were half price, so that was a plus.
I then had to decide how to sort the pieces, and based my attack according to some known future projects, mainly Yo Espero (see my other posts.) The 48" x 60"-ish quilts will go to special needs kids and vulnerable mothers at Village of Hope-Guatemala. My idea for those quilts is using scraps to make simple 12-1/2" squares, using up any UFO blocks and adding strips log cabin style. I'm also making color block strips which will be alternated with solid color strips. Both settings will be completed quilt-as-you-go method. For that joining process I need 1" and 1-3/4" inch strips.
The sort begins. In this yellow and orange group, it's easier to separate the two as I go, so I have a few extra piles than with other colors. From left to right starting at the top row I have: reject pile to be moved to the appropriate color family, throw away ...YIKES! CAN I REALLY DO IT?, little UFOs, folded bindings, 1"-ish strips, trianular-ish pieces, the largest pieces, 2-1/2"-ish strips, and squares.
I decided to move all the Yo Espero folded bindings and UFO pieces to a separate container.
I decided to move all the Yo Espero folded bindings and UFO pieces to a separate container.
Ta Da! The finished product. It makes me happy to see this so organized. (Did I mention I have OCD tendencies?) It will be so easy to look in the box and find exactly the size I need. Some people would go ahead and sub-cut the large pieces down, but I just don't want to waste my time. I will do any cutting as I go along.
I've already started with the 2-1/2"-ish piles and larger pieces to make some of the Yo Espero color block strips, aiming for 60" long and about 4-1/2" wide, without repeating any colors as long as possible.
The two most difficult parts of the process were: 1) deciding the sorting piles, and 2) giving myself permission to throw away pieces. After my first sort of the reds, I did go back into the garbage bag and pulled out a few of the larger pieces. It got easier to let go as I went along, establishing internally that there was no way I wanted to work with 1/2" wonky pieces of fabric. Although, I do have that mini-circle jean quilt started that needs tiny little inserts...NO, NO, NO...I WILL BE STRONG because I love the results of my scrap discipline.
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"But all things should be done decently and in order."
1 Corinthians 14:40
The two most difficult parts of the process were: 1) deciding the sorting piles, and 2) giving myself permission to throw away pieces. After my first sort of the reds, I did go back into the garbage bag and pulled out a few of the larger pieces. It got easier to let go as I went along, establishing internally that there was no way I wanted to work with 1/2" wonky pieces of fabric. Although, I do have that mini-circle jean quilt started that needs tiny little inserts...NO, NO, NO...I WILL BE STRONG because I love the results of my scrap discipline.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"But all things should be done decently and in order."
1 Corinthians 14:40